Frontline
by Gripheenix
Summary: The Ark has been destroyed by Mirage and only four Ravens remain. R&R please.Rated M for violence and strong language. Please send reviews, I'd like to know what I can improve on.
1. Prolouge

Frontline

They say your life flashes before your eyes before you die. They're wrong, either that, or I'm just an exception. I only relived the past ten minutes as the blue AC known as FlashTactic thrust its laser blade through my AC's core, just inches above my head.

The last ten minutes that I had seen was a battle. I had taken the mission of eliminating a Mirage research team for Crest, FlashTactic wasn't in the briefing. There had, in fact, been no such research team. When I arrived there had only been the AC. As soon as I landed, he rushed me. The mission was a trap.

My AC computer gave me various warnings as I hit the boosters in reverse, firing my machine gun at the oncoming enemy. "Analysis complete. The pilot of the AC is known as Enigma. The AC, FlashTactic, is equipped with a laser blade, a sniper rifle, and a chain gun. Evasive tactics advised." The pilot name the computer provided didn't reassure me. Enigma was the top officer of Mirage's exclusive AC force.

I could judge, visually, that the AC was built for speed. This was made apparent by the lightweight core and small arms on its small legs. He also had all ranges covered, smart pilot.

I dashed behind a boulder as a shot from his rifle flew past me on the left side. I switched to my AC's dual vertical missiles as I looked at the radar. The blip that represented him was about three meters behind me. I turned around to face him on the opposite side of the boulder, allowing my FCS to lock the missiles on the AC. My boosters thrust me backward as I launched a volley of missiles at him.

Astonishingly, he cut through the rock that divided us and dashed at me, out of danger from my attack. Left in shock, my missile pods are shot off by his sniper rifle. I opened fire with my machine gun as he advanced, most bullets missing their mark. He sliced off my machine gun arm, leaving my with my energy shield. I boosted backwards again, enabling the shield as he opened fire with the chain gun. I blocked maybe three shots before my AC ran out of energy, disabling the shield. A rain of bullets removed my AC's left arm and messed up the legs' basic functions. A bullet from his rifle went through my AC's head, rendering it completely useless. Luckily, his chain gun made a hole in the cockpit so I still had a visual of him. My AC's energy was finally replenished as he rushed at me, his laser blade in front of him. It jabbed through the core, just inches above my head.

The effects of the flashback wore off quickly. What seemed like minutes was only milliseconds. The blade was still above my head. I stared out of the hole his gun had made. I saw the AC's Grim Reaper emblem, too close for comfort. I tried hitting the boosters instinctively but his blade had cut the power to them. He slowly started withdrawing the weapon from my cockpit when an idea went through my skull. I didn't have time to second guess. I punched the EO button, releasing the orbit pod. In seconds, his core had been shot full of holes by a storm of lasers.

I watched through the hole as the AC staggered backwards and finally fell over, landing with a thud. I opened the cockpit, grabbing my own personal M16, in case, by some bizarre series of events, the pilot had lived. I climbed down the immobile legs of my AC and walked to the fallen FlashTactic. I looked into the open core to find what looked like oil splattered all over the cockpit. In the middle of the black ooze was a metallic being, or what was left of one anyway. I stepped back from the fallen AC, shocked. All this time I thought I was fighting a real person; the enemy pilot had been a robot. _That explains the perfect performance, _I thought. I pulled my phone out of my vest and dialed the Raven's Ark.

"Hello?"

"This is Garret, I need a transport to come pick me up. Send a large one; I got some scraps I wanna use from this mission."

"But the mission briefing says there were only research MTs. You can't use parts from those on an AC."

"The briefing was wrong. I'll explain when I get back."

"OK. The transport's on its way."

I hung up and leaned on FlashTactic's leg, lighting a cigarette.


	2. Oblivion

The transport landed and Aylis, my operator, hoped out of the cockpit to open the rear hatch. "Quite a mess we've got here Garret. I hope the mission will cover the damage to your AC."

"Me too. I'm more concerned about the pilot of this one," I said tapping the leg I was leaning on.

"Why? So you killed someone, it's a normal part of being a Raven. Get used to it."

"I don't think it's considered killing if the guy's a robot."

She looked at me, confusion written on her face, "What?" She walked over to the Swiss cheese-like cockpit and looked in. She pulled back with a gasp and uttered some profanities.

"So let's get these hunks of metal on the transport."

She nodded and walked into the transport. She came back out in a worker MT, making her way to FlashTactic first. After pushing that AC into the back of the transport, she loaded mine. She stepped out of the MT and shut the hatch door.

"You wanna fly back or should I."

I sat down in the passenger seat in reply.

She got in and started the transport up, "Ass."

Aylis lifted the transport off the ground when the holo screen lit up. A Raven was on the screen; he looked beat up and sounded rushed. "You two had better hurry up. We're under attack. Autonomous bombs from the sky, millions of them, and Mirage exclusive ACs. We need all the help w-"

He was cut of by the foot of an AC. When the AC moved it revealed the ruins of the Ark, not too much left of it. Aylis hit the thrust to full throttle and jetted us in the direction of the carnage. I opened the hatch to the storage, where the ACs were. "What are you doing Garret?" I didn't answer, just disconnected my core from what remained of the rest of the AC. I did the same to FlashTactic. I put my core in place of its useless old one. Luckily they were the same model cores. I hoped into the cockpit of the new AC and checked the systems. Everything was operational except the boosters; I forgot that Enigma had cut the power to them from this core.

"Garret, we're almost to the Ark, what are you doing?" Aylis was frantic over the radio.

"Get me to the highest point of the Ark's ruins."

"You're gonna try and fight all of these things?"

"I don't intend to win."

"Then what do you intend to accomplish?"

"I'm only fighting to buy you enough time to evacuate what's left of the Raven's. Don't worry about comin' back for me, I'll find my own way outa this mess."

"You're suicidal!" She quickly calmed down and got serious, "We're to the drop point, get ready."

"I am."

She opened to hatch door. I jumped out over the ruins, taking potshots at what I could. I landed hard on the small roof that was left over the Ark; luckily the bombs were scarce now. I looked around for allies, there weren't any left. A few Mirage ACs had made their way to the roof with me. There were two four-legged ACs that looked exactly the same, pointing bazookas at me. The third was another FlashTactic, exactly like the one I had fought before. I pointed my sniper rifle at them and they just stared at me. After a long minute they all turned their backs on me. I guess I looked just like an ally to them.

I took the opportunity to fire a shot from the rifle into all three cores, satisfyingly watching them fall over afterwards. I peered over the edge of the roof to find a massive amount of Mirage ACs staring up at me, as if they knew what I had just done. I dropped into the Ark itself, breaking through the floors with the AC's massive weight. I descended to the basement, where the generator was. It may have been a bad idea, but my only option with this many enemy ACs outside.

I backed the AC against a wall that had outer exposure, aiming at the massive generator. I fired once, and backed the AC through the wall with a little help from the explosion. I went airborne and readied myself to bail out of the AC. The cockpit opened to reveal the oncoming cliffside. I jumped out as I passed the rock, grabbing hold of the edge of the cliff. Quickly pulling myself up, I felt the rumbles of my AC slamming into the face of the cliff and probably exploding. I ran farther away from the edge of the cliff and waited five long minutes for the explosions to stop.

Looking over the edge, I was awestruck by the literal tons of twisted steel that used to be ACs and a building. I heard the hum of jet engines and looked up to see a transport coming to me. I had no idea what had just been set in motion, but I knew it was huge, and I was a part of it.


	3. Remnants

I sat in the hanger of the transport, staring at the remnants of the Ravens. There was me, Aylis, a techfreak named William, and a large black man who went by the alias of Moby. We had one AC, William's. It was dubbed Robo, not a very creative name. The AC was a small biped equipped with laser blade arms and small missile pods on the back. The only reason it had made it through was because William ran away from the Ark when the attack started, both smart and dishonorable.

Moby was sewing a gash in his thigh while talking to me. "So what do you expect we do Garret?"

"I was planning on visiting Crest HQ first; I need to pick up my check for my last mission. While we're there, it wouldn't hurt to get some answers out of them."

Will chimed in, "We should also look into getting two new ACs."

"Why only two?"

"That's all we'll need. One for you and one for Moby," He slapped Moby on the back. Moby gave him a look of discomfort and scooted further down the bench.

"What about Aylis? She's not only a transport pilot."

"She's a Raven?"

"A retired one, but she is still one of the most talented AC pilots I've ever seen."

Moby finished sewing up his wound. "And just how do we plan on paying for these ACs? Surely your one check can't cover it all Garret."

"True, I thought about that part though. I have about five-hundred grand in the bank, and I'm sure you two have got some too."

Aylis spoke over the PA system. "We're almost at Crest HQ. We'll be another two minutes."

"Well then, let's get ready."

Moby and I waited in the lobby for someone to come to the service desk. I had been ringing the bell for a good minute before someone poked their head out from the back.

"You folks need something?"

He was a monstrously obese caucasian with the thickest glasses I'd ever seen. He had a bucket of barbeque chicken in his arm and had apparently missed his mouth a few times when eating.

I could hear Moby chuckling in the background as I started gagging. "Um, yeah. I'm Garret, a Raven that Crest recently hired recently."

"Oh, and what job what that for?"

"Destroying a research team of Mirage's."

"Hold on a sec, I'll get the man in charge of paying you," He leaned over to a PA device and pressed one of the many buttons. "Mr. Argus, there's a Raven here to see you."

The man's voice sounded muffled through the speaker, "Is he armed?"

"No."

"Send him up then."

"Yes sir," He looked back to me. "Third floor, room four."

I nodded and walked toward the elevator. Moby followed, busting out laughing once we the doors shut. "Dude, you see that guy?"

"No I was talking to a naked woman, of course I saw him."

The elevator opened to a hallway that was decorated much the same as the lobby. We walked down it until we found a door marked Dan Argus. I had Moby wait outside as I walked into the room.

"Ah, you must be Garret. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Yeah, I came to pick up my check for a job that I recently took from this company."

"Not to worry, I've already deposited the five grand you were entitled to."

"Five grand? That's it?"

"How hard can it be to shoot down a few MTs?"

"I'll have you know that there were no MTs at all, just a Mirage exclusive AC."

"Well the job said nothing about that, so I cannot pay you any extra for that. Terribly sorry though."

"One more question: What connection does Crest have to this?"

"None, we were told that Mirage had a research team in our territory so we decided to have it taken care of, honest."

I walked out, trying to hide my anger.


	4. Back into the Frey

Moby and I had hopped back on the transport and watched Crest HQ fade in the distance as we headed east. We really didn't have the first clue of where to go, but at least Crest gave us some ACs for the trouble at the Ark. Well, they didn't give them to us exactly, more like we stole them with a large transport truck. The alarms would be going off anywhere from an hour to and hour and a half from now.

Moby chose a very heavy AC on tank legs. The arms, core, and head were all very large and designed for defense. It was equipped with two grenade launchers in the back and two bazookas in hand. The guts and electrical parts of the AC were also top notch. He was busy repainting it a navy blue. He named it Caesar.

The one we took for Aylis was a little less heavy. It was a four-legged AC with dual sniper rifles and a laser cannon on the back. It was designed to be mostly a support AC, something I knew Aylis was good at using. It was a solid and bland gray, perfect for camouflage at night. She dubbed it Cupid.

Mine on the other hand would be with Moby's and Will's in the attack group. It was a very shiny white base with touches of red in places. I just got done spray painting my emblem on it. The stylized logo was an eyeball with two sets of wings coming out of it, one angel, the other demon. The AC was equipped with a laser blade and a high power machine gun. On the back were dual pursuit missile launchers. It was a lightweight biped AC designed for maneuvering. I called it Shyft II, after my first AC.

The alarms went off and I raced to the cockpit to see what was wrong.

"Missiles are coming for us," Aylis said. "They're being launched from Crest MTs. Get ready for deployment."

Moby and William were already in their ACs, going through system checks as I rushed to Shyft II. Ceasar moved to the deck lift and the doors on the top of the transport opened up. Aylis switched the lift on and rose Moby to the roof. Will was waiting by the hatch already by the time I had finished my systems checks. I moved beside him and heard Aylis over radio.

"Garret, William, take care of the MTs, we'll come around and get you guys as soon as the missiles are out of the way."

William chimed in. "What about Moby?"

I about slapped his AC across the face. "He's takin' care of the missiles dumbass, get ready to drop."

He seemed taken back a bit as the hatch opened. I was out first, waiting for the MTs to come into view as I fell. I saw a few missiles come from behind me and turned to look. It was Robo's fire, I forgot that its missiles had decent range. I looked back at the ground, the MTs finally visible. I opened fire with my machine gun and readied the boosters to help the landing.

I had taken out three MTs by the time the two of us landed. Will got the remaining four with his missiles.

"That's it, now we just wait for Aylis and Moby."

"I wouldn't be so sure William, there could always be reinforcements."

As if on cue, my computer gave me a warning.

"Enemy AC identified. The pilot is known as Wreckless, a skilled pilot working solely for Crest. The AC, Torment, is equipped with two bazookas. Offensive tactics advised."

"What do we do Garret? I can't beat an AC! We're dead!"

"Dammit, shut up and let me concentrate."

I got a visual of a four-legged AC boosting toward us. It was the same as the ones I'd seen at the Ark.

"Shit."

"Shit what? Oh, I knew it. We're fucked."

"Shut up and get ready to fight!"

The AC plowed into William's, knocking him over. Robo laid on the ground as I turned the radio off to get rid of Will's screaming. Torment turned around and fired both bazookas at me. I boosted out of the way and launched a pursuit missile pod at him. The pod exploded, releasing about twenty missiles at Wreckless. The AC had missile interceptors for extensions that shot down the first four. Bazooka fire took out another ten, leaving six for him to boost out of the way off.

I fired my machine gun and started boosting around him in a circle. He did the same with his bazookas. I ran out of ammo before he did and switched to the missiles. I launched two pods but he boosted toward me, away from the attack. He dropped his left bazooka, which was replaced by a laser blade. I had forgot about hangar parts. He tried to use the blade in me but I blocked it with my own and launched another missile pod which collided with Torment's head. The explosion blew us apart but made a nice hole in the top of the core where the head used to be. The AC lowered and the cockpit started to open.

I jumped out of my AC, grabbing my M16 and raced down its legs. Wreckless had jumped out of the AC and landed with a thud. After seeing him get up from a twenty foot drop, I picked up the pace. I fired my rifle twice, both bullets landing in the person's chest. Wreckless fell over after staggering a bit and I caught up with him, or rather, it.

Wreckless was another robot. This one looked identical to the one piloting FlashTactic. I fired a full clip into the robot's head out of rage, yelling profanities as I did. The puzzle was starting to come together now.

I made my way back to Shyft's cockpit and turned the radio on.

"If you're done shittin' yourself William, you can get up now."

Robo stood up a little awkwardly and looked around.

"My tactic worked, he fled. No thanks needed Garret."

"If you weren't on of the only four Raven's remaining, I'd cap you in the face as soon as we got back to the transport," I muttered under my breath.

William didn't hear me. He was to fixed on the transport coming for us, waving Robo's arms like a moron.

"Nice work guys, I see you've even managed to get some AC parts too."

The transport landed and William was the first on. I was a little more sluggish, made heavy by the puzzle I was starting to piece together.


	5. Taps

"What are you talking about William? You did nothing but piss your pants and fall over."

"Dude Garret, your mother."

_Wow, what a comeback_, I thought. "If you wanna claim rights to fucking my seventy-year old mother, go right ahead."

His face turned red, "Fine, then Ay-"

I cut him off by raising a fist. "Don't even."

Aylis walked into the hangar and nodded at us, Moby beside her. "Good job boys, unfortunately, there's we still haven't got a place to go to his from Mirage, and now Crest too."

"I've got an idea," I lowered my fist and walked toward Aylis, "Remember the robot pilot from FlashTactic? Well there was another one identical to it in the Crest AC. I wonder if Navis or Kisaragi have anything to do with this as well."

Aylis nodded, "It's worth a shot. We'll try Kisaragi first, seeing as the HQ is closer." She went back to the transport's cockpit, leaving Moby with us.

Moby walked over to his AC and reloaded the ammo with the supplies the transport had, which were rather plentiful. Will and I followed his lead and did the same for our ACs.

"Kisaragi HQ is almost in view guys." Aylis mentioned over the PA before she gasped.

"What is it?" Moby sounded interested.

"Kisaragi HQ has been demolished!"

"Shit, guys get ready to deploy." I hopped into my AC and fired it up. The other two followed.

"Aylis take us in, we're gonna find out what happened."

After a short bit, the hatch opened and the three of us stepped out. I could make out about three ACs that were still moving, two Torments and a FlashTactic. They hadn't spotted us yet. "Aylis get the transport away from here. We don't need it to be destroyed. Moby, William, what say we take these guys man to man?"

Moby followed and started to aim his decent to one of the Torments. Will was a bit reluctant but still aimed for the other Torment. "Gee thanks guys," I said sarcastically as I aimed for the FlashTactic. As soon as I could I opened fire with my machine gun. Catching Enigma's attention as bullets hit its AC's back. As I finally landed both of us had fired a good number of shots.

FlashTactic boosted at me, swinging his laser blade. I blocked with my own and shot a rain of bullets through his AC's gun arm, disabling it before it could do the same to me. He pulled away and armed his chaingun. A bullet cam from behind me and knocked the chaingun off.

"You can thank me later Garret," Aylis boasted over the radio. I looked on the radar and saw Cupid's signal coming from a close by mountain range.

FlashTactic tried his blade again. I faked trying to defend against and boosted backward as he got close. Another shot from Cupid went directly through the center of FlachTactic's core, and it quickly stumbled and fell over, leaving a large groove in the ground as it skidded to a halt at Shyft's feet.

"Thanks Aylis," I said as I ran to the site where William had dropped.

"Garret, thank God you're here, please kill him for me." Robo was in bad shape, it had no arms and holes everywhere. The Torment aimed a bazooka at Robo's core and fired. Robo dropped, Will's scream cutting off quickly.

"William! William answer me. Dammit William, talk to me." He was dead. I jabbed my laser blade into Torment's core and pulled it out, beginning to hack and slash wildly. "You fucking piece of shit!"

After a bit of makeshift swordplay the Torment lowered ad small streams of oil spatter out of the core, letting me know that I had hit the pilot directly. "Moby, you didn't die on me too did you?"

"Hell no, I've been waitin' up here with Aylis for you. C'mon, let's go, we gotta find out about Navis too." I looked reluctantly at Robo's metal corpse then made my way back to the transport. Halfway there, Moby launched a grenade near William's corpse, kicking up enough dirt to bury him. Not a worthy grave, but the best we could do for now.


	6. AI

"We're almost to Navis HQ guys, get ready." Aylis sounded unaffected by William's death. To tell the truth I don't think any of us were affected on a personal level. I know I didn't hold him in very high regards, but he was still a Raven.

Either way, it's not anything to get upset about anymore.

"We should probably get in our ACs Garret," Moby said, putting a hand on my shoulder, causing ash from my cigarette to fall to the ground.

I climbed to Shyft's cockpit and started the booting sequence. Within seconds the diagnostics overview came up as the CPU started systems checks.

"Say Aylis, you gonna come with us on this drop?" Moby said over radio.

"I'll land the transport first but count on some support fire if you run into hostility."

"That's along the lines of what I didn't wanna hear. Aylis, I don't want you coming down at all. We can't lose another person."

"Garret, you sound like you're the leader of this group, something we don't need right now. Besides, if I stay up here, there's a more likely chance that one of you two will die. You're gonna need all the help you can get if this gets serious. And on the other hand, it's easier to gun down a transport than an AC."

"I guess you've got a point, just be careful."

"I will, don't worry. Ok, drop time. Ready?"

Moby already had Caesar moved by the hatch as it opened. He pushed the AC out in a manner that made him look like he just plain fell. I followed, making my exit a little more stylish with a running start to a jump.

Below us was the rubble of what used to be a young corporation. Navis had been wiped from existence by the same force as Kisaragi by the look of things. The radar showed me Caesar and the transport, but nothing else.

"It looks clear. We should be able to investigate without trouble."

"Still keep on your senses Moby; they could be just out of radar range with sniper rifles."

As if on cue, a bullet flashed by just below my AC.

"Shit Garret, you fuckin' jinxed us."

"Just shut up and get ready to fight. Aylis, hurry up, I don't know how many we've got here."

As we landed, about twenty FlashTactics came into view in all directions.

"By my count, we've got about eighty ACs here Garret, even with Aylis' help we don't stand a chance in hell."

"Just conserve ammo and aim for the cores and we should be alright. You take south and west, I got north and east."

"This is suicide man."

"We stand better chances fighting than we do running. Now go!"

He took off to the south as I boosted to the group in the east. I dodged a fair share of bullets, but nowhere near enough to keep damage to a minimal. As I met with the first three FlashTactics, I sliced the cores open with Shyft's laser blade and kept going, watching them disappear from radar. The next opposition was a group of five. They did a fair amount of damage to my AC's blade arm, leaving me to mow them down with machine gun fire.

I watched the ACs fall over, waiting to see the streams of oil that signified hits on the pilots. None ever came. I peeled back the front of the core as much as I could with my AC's bad arm, revealing an empty cockpit.

"Shit."

"What? What is it Garret?"

"We're not fighting a legion of robot pilots."

"What?" Aylis' voice was frantic as she finally came onto the field.

"Mirage has programmed the ACs to fight on their own with a cheap and massively produced AI."

"How do you know it's cheap?"

"Do you really think we'd still be alive if they were the robots?"

"Good point. Shit. Love to talk guys, but I'm lookin' down about three barrels right now. Aylis, some cover fire would be very nice."

She obliged, her muzzle flashes visible from my standing point, giving her position away to the FlashTactics to the west.

"Aylis, watch your west flank, they're comin' for you."

I had to focus on me now, realizing the twelve blips on my radar, not twenety meters away. I fired a missile pod into the sky, watching it explode into a massive amount of missiles, each picking a target AC and making contact with it. I repeated this until I was out of ammo do to so. There was still three left, aiming their chain guns at me. I boosted into the sky and found the first, dropping on to of it, crushing it, but doing a good amount of damage to my AC's legs in the process. The other two came into view and opened fire with their rifles. I answered with my machine gun, a volley of shots into each core, disabling the two ACs.

"I got the twenty on the east, what about you two?"

"I got about fifteen that attacked me from the west, the rest are still there, standing watch. I've also helped Moby with the groups to the south. Unfortunately I'm out of ammo, all I can do is defend myself with EO."

"Get back in the transport and get ready to pick me up along with a few ACs here. My AC is beaten pretty badly and could use some repair parts."

"Ok, Moby you gonna be alright by yourself for a while?"

"Yeah, I've got a decent supply of ammo and I've already taken out a bunch to the north. There's about seven left here."

"Good, I'm on my way Garret."

After a bit the transport landed and Aylis used the worker MT to get Shyft and some spare part ACs inside, including a leftover Navis model, perfect except the core. I made quick work of disconnecting parts and putting them on my core. Luckily the Navis AC had the same legs as Shyft and some arms about the same weight. I put a FlashTactic head on Shyft and grabbed the laser blade from another, putting it in the hangar space I forgot my core had. I put my machine gun in the opposite hangar space, replacing it eith the rifle the Navis AC had. In the left arm I equipped the Navis' left arm shotgun. I also took a FlashTactic chain gun. I powered up and got back onto the field, running for the five that were left in the west.

"Aylis, take the sniper ammo from the FlashTactics and dump the rest of the parts. Then just wait until Moby and I have this place cleared."

I met up with the first of the five, shooting the shotgun once into its core, knocking it flat from the closer range of the shot. It disappeared from radar as three more opened fire in me. I answered with a rain from my chain gun, rendering the AI programs useless as the bullets cut the power to most systems. The last came from the sky, landing in front of me, firing into my core once with his rifle. Fortunately he missed me and any major wiring. I butted the AC with the shotgun, knocking it over. I fired into the core with the same gun, watching the AC go limp.

"Moby, how's it goin' with those seven to the north?"

"They're gone."

"Good Aylis, get us out of here. We've got a date with some AC manufacturers tomorrow."


	7. Duece

The first stop was Mirage HQ, it being the closest to where we were. We were greeted by a rather large task force of both MTs and FlashTactics. Moby and I had already begun our decent onto the battlefield, covering Aylis and the transport.

I landed with a thud; Moby slowly hovered to a halt next to me. Strangely, the enemy squad hadn't started firing on us.

"They're waiting for something." Moby offered over radio.

"Possibly, but what?"

As if to answer a group of FlashTactics stepped aside to reveal a white AC. This one had sharper looking parts - none like anything I'd ever seen - and was just taller than the average AC height. It held a strange looking plasma rifle in each hand. It also had two laser blades on each wrist, one on top, the other on the side.

"It's a prototype."

"Very good Garret," the voice sent a chill down my spine. It was human. "I must commend your little trio on making it past our traps at Kisaragi and Navis. As for William, we have him. He's going through a few changes right now, but he looks promising."

"What are you talking about?"

"Turn on your holo display and check this guy out." Moby sounded disgusted.

I did so, now wishing I hadn't. This man, if you could even call him that anymore, was nothing more than a bald, featureless head with wires attached to it. The spinal column was jammed directly into some sort of box at the base of the head. The eyes were sewn shut. Only the mouth moved as he laughed at us.

"I won't let you do this to William, not if he's still alive!"

"Too late, Garret, I have just received word that he is on his way to the rendezvous now. I will take a temporary leave for now. Not to worry, I will bring him back here for the reunion."

With that, he boosted to the South.

"What the fuck was that?" Aylis had jumped into the middle of the conversation.

"I don't know, but right now we got more imperative issues to deal with. Just focus on giving us some cover fire."

I started firing on MTs with the rifle and pounding the ACs that got in range of the shotgun. The EO function kept any rear attacks at bay for the moment, but it still had limited ammo before it had to recharge. The attacks seemed endless for a while until I boosted to higher ground. I could see Caesar's grenades exploding into very large, very dense groups of ACs and MTs.

I took shots at what I could, conserving ammo until my EO was recharged. Suddenly, a volley of very large plasma explosions illuminated the area. When I could see again, there were two of those white ACs standing on top of tons of twisted metal, I assumed one was William.

"William?"

I was answered by a shot from the plasma rifle, luckily only a warning shot that hit below me, but it was still enough to shake the perch I was on.

"He is my pet now. He does whatever I say, no questions asked. Of course that won't matter to you too much longer seeing as you cannot possibly defeat us. We are wired into these ACs, they are literally our bodies. Our grace is unmatched, our reflexes unrivaled. Oh the power! Soon you will know it too." The grizzly face on the holo offered a demonic grin. "William, shall we?"

William's white AC nodded and boosted in Moby's direction. The other came full force at me. I boosted backwards firing with both guns. He dodged almost every shot with cat-like reflexes. Suddenly a bullet came from somewhere in the distance, hitting the white AC in the right shoulder, sending it into a slow spiral downward. I was relieved that there wasn't a third AC running at Aylis, leaving her open to support Moby and me. The AC reoriented itself and came looked off in Aylis' direction. Before he could decide which of us to attack, I unloaded a full magazine from both the shotgun and the rifle into his back. Surprisingly, not one bullet even punctured the ACs armor. He turned around and jabbed two laser blades into Shyft's head, cutting my video feed and radar. I boosted backward again, slamming into the side of a Mirage skyscraper.

I could hear the white AC coming for me, but there was little I could do about it. I tried aiming the shotgun to where he was before and fired. I hit nothing but ruble.

"Aylis, tell me where he is. I've lost video and radar."

"To your right, about twenty meters away. He's got all four laser blades running and he's coming fast."

"Dammit," I looked at my ammo supplies. I had three shots left in the rifle, "Well it's worth a shot."

I dropped the rifle, taking my machine gun out of the hangar space provided. I aimed to my right and opened fire. I heard the sounds of metal deflecting metal, a good sign. The sound got closer with every few shots; he was advancing. I had about four magazines left in the machine gun, roughly a hundred twenty shots. The white AC continued the advance as I continued to expend ammo. He was finally in range and I threw the gun in his direction, following up by throwing the shotgun as well. I heard both hit and simply fall as I blindly aimed Shyft's bare fist at the white AC. I made contact with some random part, sending him staggering backwards. I followed with a small combination of punches ending in an open palm strike. By now, I had worn the armor down enough that the palm strike went through it. I closed my AC's fist around whatever I could grab and pulled it out ferociously. I could hear the face's wails of agony as I ripped the cybernetic entrails from his AC body. I took my laser blade out of it hangar space and powered it up. I cut into various areas and finally decapitated the white AC. The screams of pain stopped abruptly and the only sound left was that of the falling AC.

I put my machine gun back into its hangar slot and picked the rifle and shotgun back up, leaving the blade in place for now.

"I'm comin' Moby, stay alive for me. Aylis, tell me where he is."

"He's about a mile south of you. Hurry, Garret, he's in trouble, William's taking a huge toll on Caesar's defenses."

"Dammit," I boosted I his direction.

"Shit! Garret, run! It's too late for me! Save yourse-"

Radio static. Moby was dead.

"William you fucking bastard…"

I could hear his booster coming in my direction, he was close. I had seconds to react. Seconds controlled by primitive instinct. I activated the blade, swiping blindly. I hit him. I don't know where, but I heard a bloodcurdling scream from him over the radio. William fell over, dead.

"Let's go Aylis, Crest shouldn't be too far."

I started walking Shyft back in the direction of the transport, cursing the loss of yet another teammate.


	8. Finale

"So tell me, why didn't we bomb the shit out of Mirage?" Aylis sat in the pilot's seat next to me.

I swiveled the co-pilot's chair to looks at her, "Because Crest is the one runnin' the show for one. For two, we didn't have the firepower to do so."

"How do you know it's Crest? Mirage had some of those AI robots too. The FlashTactics are Mirage ACs, and they were all over that place."

"Yes, but the FlashTactics use Crest parts. Does that answer your question?"

Aylis scowled and looked at the radar. "Get ready, we're almost at Crest HQ."

I made my way to the hangar and to Shyft. I hopped into the cockpit and started the AC up. Halfway through systems checks Aylis' voice came over radio, what was odd about that fact was that the signal came from her AC.

"Garret, I've set the transport on auto-pilot."

"But it'll get shot down before it reaches the drop zone." The visuals buzzed to life, a good sign that the repairs did their job.

"That's why we're jumping out as soon as we're both ready to go."

I thought for a second. _This is probably the last battle so I guess we won't need it… But still, I don't think it's necessary to send it on a kamikaze course._

"Ok Aylis, I'll follow your plan. We won't need to go anywhere after this is over… I hope." She had made her way to the hatch and was in the process of opening it. I moved Shyft into place next to her.

The hatch opened faster than it should have. I saw that the hydraulics that kept it up had snapped. "Well now I guess it doesn't matter if we lose this thing."  
Aylis jumped without a reply. I shook my head and moved the AC to the edge, still not happy about a premature jump. I jumped out and started a freefall, looking at the rear view screen, trying to judge distance to Crest HQ. Aylis was already boosting toward the target. I landed harshly and followed her.

After a few minutes there was an explosion in the air. Now they either knew that we were coming or thought we died in the transport's explosion. I hoped for the later.

A moment later the battlefield came into view, it was covered with clusters of FlashTactics. I aimed my guns at the nearest group and waited for them to fire as they booted past. They didn't. I zoomed in a bit to find them full of bullet holes. A bit further and I saw that the rest of the groups nearby were in much the same condition.

"What happened here?"

"Not to state the obvious, Garret, but it looks like a rather one-sided battle between the FlashTactics and a larger force."

We stopped near Crest HQ, "But then why aren't there any Wreckless bodies around?"

"'Cuz Crest melted them all." The voice came over radio and sounded familiar.

I zoomed in on two black ACs that were standing in the middle of the battle scene. One was Dual Face, Genobee's AC; it had a rifle, a blade, and a cannon on the back. The other, with the emblem of a heart surrounded with golden wings, had a shotgun in one hand and a blade on the other; it also had a missile pod and a grenade launcher on the back. Both were smaller, more agile type ACs.

"Genobee and Agraya." I whispered to myself. Genobee had been part of the Ark, but worked solely for Crest. Agraya and her AC, Red Star, were Crest exclusive. "Why are you two here?"

"We came to destroy the AIs. They went out of control, the classic AI scenario. They questioned why they had to be slaved to Mirage and Crest and not have their own free will and all that good shit. Everyone in Mirage was killed before the warning could get out. But that just means less competition for Crest. The white prototypes, on the other hand, were almost perfect, just a few bugs. And you managed to exploit those bugs and destroy the only two we had. Good job."

"Well if that's all you have to say, we need to talk with Crest's executives now."

"We can't let you do that," Genobee pointed his gun at me, Agraya did the same to Aylis, "You see, the reason we attacked the Ark was to destroy all Ravens. After word got out that your little troop got out alive, the order was giving to eliminate you at any cost."

"Destroy all Ravens? Then why are you still alive? You were a Raven too!"

"I'm special." Without another word the two fired at us, barely nicking their targets, warning shots. They wanted this to be somewhat fun.

I boosted at Genobee, firing the rifle at his core. He countered by doing the same. As we flew past each other, he swiped with his blade, cutting my rifle to half the size. I turned around, discarding the rifle. Taking the machine gun out in its place, I opened fire, letting lose a stream of bullets with a few bursts from the shotgun. Somewhere Cupid was fighting with Red Star.

Dual Face ran at me, the cannon aimed in my direction. It seemed to have a few bullet holes in places but not enough to do anything. I boosted in Genobee's direction, firing with the shotgun. Most of the bullets missed or simply bounced off, leaving only dents, but a few had found their way into wiring in the legs, which slowed Genobee down a small bit. The next thing I knew I was flying backwards, nothing but a white flash for visuals. The force dared to rip me out of my seat. I slammed into something; I assumed it to be either a Cliffside or a building. Shyft got up, me shaking my head to reorient myself. I looked into the rear view screen to see that it was indeed a Cliffside that I had slammed into. On the front view screen, I could see Dual Face and his smoking cannon.

Aylis' scream came over radio as an explosion went of in the distance.

"Aylis?"

"She's dead," Agraya answered.

"You bitch. I'll kill you!"

"Come and try."

I turned in her direction and activated the boosters. One blew up on ignition; the other was blown off by the explosion. I looked behind me to find the sky through a hole where the boosters used to be. The crash with the cliff must've been the cause. My opponents laughed as Shyft crawled back to its feet. I aimed my chain gun at Red Star and fired. I unloaded every last round at her from my standing point.

Her voice came over the radio, "You little fuck," It was an effort for her to talk. She sounded like she was choking on blood, "How did you manage to hit me? _Me_, in the cockpit." Red Star vanished from radar.

Suddenly a laser blade was inches from my head. I could feel the immense heat coming from it. The blade traveled upward through my AC, splitting it in half from the cockpit up. I could smell a gas leak as I looked up to see the flaring electricity coming from the broken wires. I jumped out the hole my boosters made and landed hard, rolling along the ground. Shyft fell over and exploded, showering me with shrapnel, leaving lacerations everywhere.

I stood up, it was hard to do, and looked at the now towering Dual Face.

"If you wanna finish me, now's your chance, Genobee."

"I'm not gonna fight an unfair fight," He said as he exited his AC. He walked over to me and gave me a right hook across the face, "You killed my partner Garret. For that, I will kill you, but I will do it in a fair fashion," he paused, giving me another punch. This one knocked me over. He put his foot on my head, continuing, "It's more fun that way." He shifted his wait onto the foot on my head, attempting to crush it. It almost worked.

He took his foot off and kicked me in the mouth. My bottom jaw snapped in half, teeth falling onto the ground when I tried to stand up. I made it to my knees before I saw Genobee pick up a metal rod that must've come from Shyft. He struck me across the face, shattering my cheekbone and cracking the bones across the rest on my face. I had never felt pain like this before, from the time I got shot in the stomach as a child to the time I got brutally assaulted in school. It was unbearable. I just wished that he would take out a gun and end it instantly. That's not what he did.

He took a knife from his belt and crouched down next to me, lifting my shirt. He slowly inserted the blade into a space between two ribs, puncturing a lung. He began to saw away at the rib below the knife with the jagged blade. It hurt so bad that I wanted to scream, but I couldn't find the air to do it. My eyes now filled with tears, drained more with each new rib he found. I was quickly blacking out from the pain. Genobee must've noticed because he stopped and pulled out a two way radio. As I blacked out I heard the voices on the other end communicating with him.

"I've got Subject A, what should I do with him?"

"Is he still alive?"

"Not for too much longer I'm making sure of that as we speak."

"Good just remember to leave the brain intact, we need it for the new project."

"Of course," Genobee went back to sawing and the world faded away from me, each sound echoing for a short while as I too, faded away.

_Well then, that's it for this one. I have a sequel coming up though. I hope you watch for it._


End file.
